Neuroscience of Language Learning 2 – Explorations

Have you ever wondered why teens get so peer conscious, whether introversion is more than just shyness, or why some teachers take a nurturing and others take a tough love approach?  Have you ever speculated on whether touching your learners’ hearts might be beneficial for learning, or how you should deal with AI in the language classroom? If so, this course, on the neuroscience of language learning, might be just the right one for you. We guarantee that you’ll often be surprised, amazed, and sometimes moved. So please join our closely-bound community of caring teachers that see language learning from the brain’s perspective.

The easy-to-understand Neuroscience of Language Learning 2 course is a continuation of the first course. In the first course, we explored the neuroscience and psychology of the social brain, the language brain, and the learning brain, with the second course building on that understanding. The first module on the developing brain will examine how our brains and abilities change from childhood to adulthood, and how that determines what we should teach. The second module on the neurodiverse brain will look at different kinds of brains and how that affects learning. The third module on the teaching brain will explore the psychology behind different approaches, teacher self-care, and dealing with difficult learners. And as in the first course, the last module will offer language teaching methods and brain-compatible teaching.

The course offers videos you can watch at your own rate, heart-warming stories, live sessions, sharing takeaways, and optional assignments and progress quizzes.

Four modules will be covered during this 6-week course:

The Developing Brain

The Neurodiverse Brain

The Teaching Brain

Language Teaching Methods and Brain-Compatible Teaching

Course Orientation live session: March 22. One live session at 04:00 UTC (Check your local time)

After that, there will be two live session times each week to best include all of the time zones represented by members. 

Dates for live sessions: March 28, April 5, 12, 19, 26, and May 3

Time for live sessions: 

Live session 1

Sundays at 03:00 UTC (Check your local time)

Note: This will happen on Saturday in the Americas and Sunday in Europe and Asia.

Live session 2

Sundays at 20:00 UTC (Check your local time)

Note: This will happen on Sunday in the Americas and Europe, and Monday in Asia.

Cost: 280 USD

We can provide receipts for research funds, if needed.

Registration includes pre-recorded content and resources for each of the four modules, four live sessions, and unlimited private forum discussions. Upon successful completion of the course, participants will have the option of receiving a certificate of achievement.

Scholarships

iTDi believes that all teachers deserve the same opportunity to improve themselves. From our experience, teachers who pay something towards a course more often make a greater effort and are more likely to complete the course. Therefore, we do encourage teachers to pay something toward the course if at all possible. We prioritize partial scholarships, but a limited number of full scholarships may also be available for this course. Please apply through our scholarship application. Scholarship applications will be available two months before the course.

About Hybrid Professional Development Courses

Hybrid professional development offers the best of both live and self-paced courses. Instructors pre-record content (in shorter videos) so you can work through modules at a time that works for you. Additionally, you experience social learning with other participants and the instructors in online forum discussions. Finally, each week there are opportunities to meet with instructors and fellow participants in optional live sessions (scheduled to work with participant time zones).

Meet your Instructors

The MindBrainEd Think Tank Team

Dr. Curtis Kelly – Writer, Speaker, and Professor Emeritus of Kansai University in Japan; new at making videos

Julia Daley – Certified teacher who's been  teaching writing and EFL for over a decade in high schools and  universities in the USA and Japan.

Afon Khari – Brain enthusiast and a master's student in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Amsterdam

Nicky De Proost – Certified English teacher  specialising in media literacy, with experience across high school and  university in Europe and Japan

Stephen M. Ryan – language teacher, Study Abroad experience creator, currently based in Okayama, Japan

Heather Kretschmer – Experienced teacher, writer and Coordinator of Business English at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in Germany